The invention relates to an article support and display apparatus for supporting articles of merchandise in display racks or cases and the like. Such displays are utilized in grocery stores, supermarkets and typically include a base support member or panel having apertures therein in which are inserted hanger rods and the articles of manufacture are suspended from said rods. One such display case used in displaying refrigerated foods such as meats and cheeses includes an elongated angle iron with the flanges thereof diverging upward, one flange having a circular opening therethru and the other flange having a semi-circular slot therein positioned for receiving the cylindrical hanger rod. Springclips are applied to the rod on the back side of the flange containing the circular aperture for preventing the rod from being pulled out of the angle iron. Such a configuration is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,841.
A cursory review of the prior art clearly shows that there is a marked lack in uniformity between the various merchandise support and display assemblies currently available. Thus, one having a support bracket of one manufacturer could not use hanger rods of another manufacturer. There is, thus, a distinct need in this industry for support and display assemblies whereby molding support pegs and merchandise pegs could be used in virtually any standard peg bar.
Display racks of a type having forwardly projecting article supporting rods are known which are adapted to be mounted on a vertical wall or support plate for use in open front refrigerator display cases as used in supermarkets and the like. For example, display racks of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,632. Commonly displayed are two sets of supporting rods, one for the merchandise to be sold and the second to support the molding which displays various pricing and informational tags associated with the merchandise. Ideally, the tag molding should be placed directly over and slightly behind the end of the merchandise support peg, so that a supermarket customer can readily identify the product being sold and its pricing information. Unfortunately, prior art display devices have not always been able to provide this convenience.
FIG. 1 shows a tag molding assembly 10 comprising molding support pegs 2, 3 which are actually a single U-shaped supporting rod fixedly attached to tag molding 1. The support rods are configured to possess "S" shaped segments 4, 5 which cause the tag molding 1 to locate above merchandise support rod (not shown). Distal ends 6, 7 of molding support pegs 2, 3 are adapted to fit into ordinary peg bar supports.
Although the molding display shown in FIG. 1 does offer some flexibility by providing for a channel 30 within tag molding 1 so that pricing and other merchandise information can slide within said channel to locate proximate to the merchandise being displayed, the use of such a configuration offers serious problems. For example, a molding display must be fabricated to align with holes in the peg bar support which are spaced a specific distance from one another to receive distal ends 6, 7. With such a rigid frame, a store operator cannot always locate his product as he would like. By having to set up merchandise pegs around the molding pegs, it has been found that the user must forfeit about one product space per 4 foot section of display, resulting in a display loss of about 12%.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an article support and display assembly without the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an article support and display assembly adaptable for use with any conventional peg bar support.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an article support and display assembly whereby both the molding support pegs and merchandise pegs are readily removable and interchangeable to allow for enhanced ease in the display and pricing of merchandies.